Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Woodford Makes it a Double: Woodford Reserve Double Oaked

Woodford Reserve Double Oaked is the first permanent edition to the regular Woodford lineup. The Double Oaked is made by taking the regular Woodford Reserve bourbon and rebarreling it in a barrel which has been toasted for twice as long as the first barrel prior to being charred. While Woodford has said that it was inspired by the Master's Collection Seasoned Oak Finish, that was a different concept, involving extra seasoning of the barrel (seasoning is a process of exposing the wood to the elements). In addition, while the Master's Collection whiskeys are entirely made on the Woodford distillery pot still, this bourbon starts off as the regular Woodford, meaning it is a blend of pot still whiskey made at the Woodford distillery and column still whiskey made at Brown Forman. Like the regular Woodford, the Double Oaked contains no age statement.

Woodford Reserve Double Oaked, 45.2% abv. ($45)

The nose on this is very Woodford with medicinal pot still notes. The palate starts sweet and then hits mint and quickly transitions into that Woodford medicinal flavor which turns quite bitter; the bitterness lasts into the finish which is also a bit astringent.

I'd say this is slightly better than the regular Woodford (which isn't saying much) but not something I'd recommend and certainly not for the price.

4 comments:

Pretty much right on with your review. I bought a bottle of this almost immediately after it came out. Not a fan of regular WR, thought I'd give this edition a chance. I think it is even worse than regular WR. I have allowed myself a year to try and finish the bottle (resisting the urge to simply pour it down the drain) but it won't be easy. Odd because I really like the Old Forester Signature and Birthday releases, but whatever they do with the pot stills is a real turnoff for me.

I actually enjoy standard woodford. It's rustic, it's sweet, good spice, and good mouth feel. I am on my second tasting of this and struggling to wrap my brain around it. So far, agreed with Kyjd75- it's not as good as standard for me. It's frankly....weird.

Interesting comments. Jason, it certainly wouldn't be the first time we disagreed. As you know, I really dislike pretty much all Woodford products. This one is not in the worst group, but whether Double Oaked is slightly better or slightly worse than regular Woodford, I still wouldn't recommend it.